Hey all.

I fished Mission Viejo today and threw the Mission Fish around a little. I had the boat in like 15' and was thowing the bait deep and working it up the points. I am fairly new to the swimbait thing and haven't stuck a ton of fish so when I got bit on my second cast it actually scared me a little...and I farmed it...

I know why I missed the fish today, 'cause I'm a barney, but the nature of the bait does not seem to lend itself to a high hookup percentage. I am using the tricks...bending the hook out, trying to leave a little gap, using a piece of drop shot worm...My problem is that the gap keeps pulling through the belly anytime I try to leave a gap between the hook and body, whether I use a piece of worm or not. After every retrieve, maybe every other, the bait looks akin to a big hammer rigged on a lead head (the hook pulls through the plastic and is exposed on top) and I have to readjust the hook.

I could solve the problem by skin hooking the bait, but I don't want to tear it up and I am not sure if that wouldn't mean more missed fish anyway.

Is the problem in the way I rigged the bait, or is there some trick to prevent this from happening? It isn't a big deal, but a solution would make me more efficient for sure.

The bait is awesome though and I would highly recomend it, I can't wait to fish it again.

On another note, the Lake was fun today, got some love on the little jerk baits. Gotta get over my "real men use baitcasters" feelings, not having a spinning reel to thow the light stuff cost me fish today. Can anybody recomend a quality spinning setup...I guess that is another post.

Thanks for any help.

--John